Cerulean, the Little Zafara
by PooglesBiggestFan
Summary: This is the one I'm hoping makes it to the NT Neopian Times for all you people who don't know. It kinda turned out like Cinderella.


There was once a little blue Zafara named Cerulean. She, like most neopets, had an owner and other siblings. She had two brothers, a Darigan Zafara named Cinnabar and a Green Skeith named Viridian. She also had a yellow Faellie named Saffron. The five of them would've made a happy family except for one thing, her owner liked toughness. Cerulean was a fairly tough Zafara, nice defensive capabilities and alright in almost all the other departments, but she was nothing compared to her two brothers. She was kind, and loving, and more forgiving than any pet in the whole of Neopia. Today, Viridian was yelling at their owner.

"Dad! I WANT A PETPET!" Viridian whined loudly in the middle of Neopia Central. "Cerulean has a petpet, why can't I have her's?"

"Because she didn't eat a Moltenore, ten Flouds, five Feepits and an Ona in a week! You can have Saffron **IF** you won't eat her." their dad reprimanded.

"OK," Viridian grinned evilly at Saffron. That made Saffron cling tightly to Cerulean's leg. "Come on you little snack, it's time to be the petpet of a tougher pet!" he yelled as he tugged at the little yellow fur ball.

"Why does he get Saffron, I want'er!" Cinnabar yelled and started a vicious fight with his brother. While the two boys made a cloud of dust from their scuffle, Saffron went up and bit each of the boys once. They barely noticed but gave up on the fighting of each other because they decided they didn't want a girl petpet.

"Boys are so weird." Cerulean rolled her eyes.

"What was that?" Cinnabar yelled at his sister.

"Nothing." she giggled. He glared at her but decided that it wasn't worth his time to beat up his sister again.

Cerulean was always getting her butt kicked by her brothers, but she never complained and always forgave them in the end. They were masters in the battledome and were the toughest pets in all of Faerie Land, which was where they lived. When the group got home from their trip to battle in the dome, they all split up and headed to their own rooms. Cerulean lived up in the attic which was made of straw, so it was always hot in the summer, cold in the winter and wet when it rained. Cerulean walked up to her room and threw her little ripped up Kadoatie backpack down on her blanket on the floor. She didn't have the luxuries most neopets had, but she was just as happy somehow.

"Cerulean! Come down here! I need you to do something for me!" her owner yelled up to his Zafara. Cerulean rolled her eyes and walked down the stairs with Saffron flying next to her head and her backpack over her shoulders.

"What do you need?" she asked politely.

"I need you to go to Neopia Central and pick up these things." he said handing her a list of food, school supplies, battledome items, petpets and a fire paintbrush. He was sitting in the comfy armchair watching his big screen TV while Cerulean could hear the sound of her brothers fighting for the PS2 controller in the other room. "Now get going, I need those by dinner." he waved. Cerulean checked her watch, the only non-beat up thing she owned, and it said she had seven hours.

"Um, I need some Neopoints to buy this with." Cerulean squeaked.

"Oh yes, here you go." he tossed her a bag of ten thousand Neopoints. "And remember, if I don't have everything on that list by dinner time, you don't get dinner, and Saffron would make a great profit in the shop."

Cerulean got a worried look on her face as she and her best friend (Saffron) headed off to Neopia Central. She knew that ten thousand Neopoints would buy her everything on the list except the fire paint brush. It was up to her to get about a hundred thousand Neopoints in seven hours, and do all her shopping. After she reached Neopia Central, she quickly bought everything on the list (other than the PB) and headed to the games room. She knew she'd need to earn all that money, and fast.

After a few hours, she had only five thousand Neopoints and had earned all the money from all the games she knew how to play! She tried every trick in the book to get money, from begging to trading, but she still didn't get much. She sighed and kicked an empty can of neocola. She flumped down by the hospital, no idea how she was supposed to get a fire paint brush in five hours.

"Can I help you with something?" a friendly looking Faerie Kougra asked her.

"Not unless you can get me a fire paint brush in five hours for five thousand Neopoints." she sighed.

"Well, I'm not sure if I can do that, but I can help you earn some of that money." he smiled back at her.

"Really, how?" a glimmer of hope shined from her eyes.

"My siblings and I are having a major snowball fight, if you can make me an unlimited pile of snowballs and keep me well stocked, I can pay you, mm, five thousand Neopoints per hour." he smiled.

Cerulean quickly did the math and figured out that if she worked for this Kougra for the remaining five hours, she'd have only 30 thousand. She decided she'd work for the Kougra for four of the remaining hours and then, hope for the best for the last hour. "Deal!" she held out her paw. He shook it, and they left for Terror Mt.

"Oh, I need to get going!" Cerulean stated after four hours of work. The Kougra gave her the money and she headed off to Neopia Central, hoping for the best. "Oh Saffron, what are we going to do? If we don't get this paint brush, my owner's gonna sell you!" Cerulean cried as they walked through the streets of Neopia looking for "Help Wanted" signs in shops.

Eventually Cerulean stopped at a shop that had a help wanted sign and looked like it might pay high. She walked in and quickly got put to work scrubbing the floors. Somehow or other, she made the hundred thousand Neopoints and ran off to buy the fire PB. The shop wizard quickly found her one for the exact amount of Neopoints she had and she ran home.

"You're late." he yelled at Cerulean as she ran in the door, one minute behind time.

"But only by a minute, can you spare me the punishment just this once?" she begged as she panted.

"No way, this is the third time this month you've been late, and it's time we got rid of that little Faellie." he snickered as he threw Saffron in a cage in the back room of his shop.

Cerulean cried and screamed all night but the next morning, a ray of hope peaked through her one window.

"So if I win a battle in the battledome, you'll give Saffron back to me?" Cerulean checked her facts.

"Yep!" her owner grinned.

Less than an hour later Cerulean was in the battledome arena with a tough looking Red Shoyru. The battle began and they fought hard, the Shoyru, wiping the floor with her. He looked pretty proud of himself.

"Look, I need to win this battle so my mom'll paint me fire, so just forfeit. Please?" He asked nicely.

"Well I need to win or else I'll never see my best and only friend again! I won't let my Faellie down!" she yelled as she kicked at him as hard as she could. He fell on the floor a little ways away from her and thought, she obviously needed to win this battle more than he did. He just lay there and didn't get up until she had won the match.

He smiled at Cerulean as they walked out of the battledome. His owner looked pretty mad, but not like she was going to hurt him, whereas Cerulean's owner looked pretty happy. He smiled as he walked out with her.

"So can I have Saffron back now?" the exhausted Zafara asked sweetly.

"Only if you play with your brothers, they're lonely." he replied. He said it as if it wasn't anything special, which it wasn't. She was forced to 'play' with her brothers every week. During their 'games' they chased her and if they managed to catch her, she got to play 'lets pretend I'm punch bag Bob'. That was one of the reasons she dreaded this. Also, since her brothers could fly, it was hard to get away from them.

"But you said that I'd get her back if I won that battle!" she whined.

"Well the price has changed!" he shouted. "Just spend a few hours of quality time with your brothers."

"How did I get roped into this one?" Cerulean sighed as she and her two brothers headed up to a pretty cloud park, where the two of them had wanted to play. Viridian grinned evilly in response. Their owner decided to be nice and give her Saffron then, so that Saffron could play with them too. He didn't know how rough the brothers played.

An hour later, Cerulean was hiding up on a blue cloud with Saffron. Her brothers were yelling for her from the ground below. They looked and looked, but just couldn't seem to find their 'fresh meat'. Cerulean and Saffron were looking down at the two, hoping against all hope that they wouldn't think to look up. Cerulean acted like she couldn't jump very high, but in actuality, she could jump about ten feet higher than the usual Zafara.

They "played" for an hour while the two boys looked for Cerulean, but they never found her. When their owner came back, they went home and that was that, for the time being.

"So, I'm heading out to Neopia Central for a shopping spree. We need a new couch," their owner said after a few months. At those last words, he looked accusingly over at Viridian, the now fire Skeith. "And I need to go grocery shopping. We're out of Ice Cream, Popcorn, Neocola and Cookies." He kept looking accusingly at Viridian.

"Can I come with you?" All three of his pets chorused.

"Sure."

So the five of them headed out to Neopia Central shops and when they got there, they split up and each had a few things on their shopping list. Viridian and Cinnabar joined together and needed to get the food, their owner had to get the couch, and Cerulean and Saffron headed out to get some candy Cinnabar had requested.

Cerulean found herself stopping as she passed a paint brush shop owned by a little girl. In the front shop window was a beautiful Royal paint brush and around it were pictures of what pets looked like when painted with it. Cerulean quickly found the female Zafara and gasped.

"It's beautiful! I wish I could look like that. Dad would never buy it for me though, if all he'll get for Viridian is a fire." she glumly stated to Saffron.

"So, you like it?" Cerulean spun around to see a Royal boy Zafara smiling behind her.

"Yes, Royal Zafaras look so pretty."

"You'd look great as a Royal Zafara. I can get you a discount on it." He said politely.

"Um, thanks but I can't afford it, even with a discount. I've gotta go." Cerulean was nervous about talking to a Zafara she didn't know when she was supposed to be running an errand for her owner. "Do you know where I can find a candy store?"

"Yeah, my owner sells some candy in her paint brush shop." he motioned to the window."

"Thanks!" she headed in and bought some chocolate Zafaras, a few chocolate coated marshmallows and a big box of bubble gum.

"Can I help you carry that?" the Zafara asked as she walked out of the shop with a little bag and a big box.

"No, I've got it." she smiled. _That was nice of him to offer. But if my dad finds out I wasn't working he'd be mad. _

"Come on, please? You're practically falling over trying to keep that box balanced!" he begged.

Cerulean fell over and the box landed next to her. The Zafara gave her a hand up then picked up the box and started heading in the direction she was going.

"You coming?" he smiled. She jumped up and led the way.

"Thanks."

"No sweat, my mom says I need to learn better manners anyway."

Cerulean giggled. They ended up at the spot where Cerulean was supposed to meet her family. He gently placed the boxes on the bench, bowed politely, and left without saying a word. She was sitting on the bench, paws holding up her head, and a dreamy look in her eyes. When her dad and brothers returned, Cinnabar jumped head first into the box of candy and Viridian punched Cerulean for looking happy.

"Stop!" she yelled and Cinnabar and her father headed back home. Viridian got some new battledome equipment and was determined to try it out on his sister. She was on the ground and screaming in pain before someone heard her cries for help.

"Leave her alone!" the Royal (boy) Zafara yelled as he jumped in front of her with a sword, which he had used to destroy Viridian's new equipment. Viridian yelled in anger and quickly turned his attacks to the Zafara that was a threat. After a little while of fighting, Viridian decided it wasn't worth his time to keep attacking this Zafara and he ran off towards home.

"Are you alright?" he asked Cerulean as he gave her a hand up from the pavement.

"I'm fine, are you, your arm's cut." she whispered, quite surprised at this Zafara's strength.

"I've had worse, was that someone you know?"

"My brother actually."

The Zafara said nothing, but his huge eyes explained how surprised he was. Cerulean saw pity in them. "Well, to get away from him, can you come to my house for dinner?"

"Uh, yeah. I'd better check with my owner first though." Cerulean was surprised at this kind invitation. If she asked to have someone over for dinner, her owner would yell at her for hours for springing something on him.

"Can I pick you up at seven? Where do you live?"

She said her street address and they each went their separate ways. That night at seven at Cerulean's house, Cinnabar opened the door to the neohome and noticed he was the same Zafara that broke Viridian's new equipment and quickly slammed the door.

"Cinnabar, who was at the door?" Cerulean asked.

"A salesman." Cinnabar lied. He had spied on his sister and he was determined to keep her away from this Zafara, just to keep her from being happy. She didn't even suspect that there was no salesman and that the Zafara had come.

About fifteen minutes later, she started to think the Zafara was quite rude, to not even show up! She looked out her window and saw that her brothers were attacking the Zafara! She ran outside and screamed at them to stop. Her distraction, though useful, did nothing except get their attention. The Zafara saw his chance and knocked them out on a tree.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized.

"No problem, besides, you ran the distraction." he smiled as he threw them inside for their owner to find later. The two Zafara's headed out to the boy's home.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding." she pointed out the deep cut in his arm.

"I'm fine. My mom'll have no problems fixing my arm up. Besides, she's looking forward to meeting you." he smiled.

"Hey, I don't think I got your name."

"I'm Vermilion. And I didn't get yours either."

"Cerulean, and this is Saffron. Thanks for inviting me over."

"Vermilion, into the bathroom so I can fix your arm. That's the third fight you've had this week!" his mom yelled when they got home. "You can make yourself at home, I'm afraid Vermilion didn't tell me you were coming until I had already started dinner, so we're just having turkey. Sorry it's nothing special." she said to Cerulean.

"Thanks." _She seems so nice, and it's as if she's only annoyed with Vermilion because he hurt himself. She actually cares about him! Unlike my dad. I wish I could live with an owner who was as nice as her!_

"So, when's dinner gonna be ready?" Vermilion asked his mom.

"Just give me a moment mister impatient!" the girl reprimanded as she placed a giant dish of turkey on the table.

"Thanks for the dinner, it was delicious!"

"It's always nice to have company!" the girl laughed. Her laugh was warm, welcoming and soft. It put a smile on Cerulean's face just to hear it. She liked these two.

"May I walk you home?" Vermilion asked with a bow. "Wait, will it be alright for you to go see your brothers again? Will they attack you?" he asked in the yard. He had forgotten about them. Even with the cut in his arm, he was just so happy to have Cerulean around, he had no idea why, but he just wanted to protect her.

"Oh don't worry about it!" she smiled with a wave. Truth was, she was terrified of them, but she didn't want to impose on him anymore.

Cerulean became best friends with Vermilion, and they were always together. In fact, Cerulean only slept at home, and often called Vermilion's owner 'Mom'. The two were never bothered by her brothers, because of Vermilion's sword. Finally, Cerulean had a friend, other than her petpet. In turn, Vermilion considered himself a half owner of Saffron. They were inseparable, except at night.

When Christmas came around, Cerulean tried and tried to get money so she could buy Vermilion a good present. But, no matter how hard she tried to get money for his present, she just couldn't find any money! Eventually, she could only earn money by playing Kacheek Seek with Saffron. This didn't pay very well, and she spent all of her time working on earning money. Vermilion thought she was ignoring him and suddenly became quite depressed. Naturally Cerulean didn't notice, because she was so determined to get him a good present that he'd be grateful for.

Finally, on Christmas Eve, Vermilion offered that Cerulean could spend the night at his house, and Christmas Day. Naturally her owner didn't care so they spent the night at Vermilion's house. Christmas morning came and the four of them (one owner, one petpet and two Zafaras) ran out to open their presents. Saffron got a few toys from all three of them, Vermilion's owner got a few little trinkets from the two Zafaras, and she, in turn, had gotten them each a few little things. There was one big present for Vermilion from Cerulean.

"A sword of Domar! Wow, so that's what you were doing all December! Thanks!" He smiled at his friend.

Cerulean smiled. She wasn't surprised, and didn't care, that she hadn't gotten anything beside a few small trinkets. She had a whole day, Christmas even, away from her brothers and father. And she got to spend it with her best friend and favorite human in Neopia.

"Hey Cerulean, this one's for you!" Vermilion smiled as he handed her a package with a card on it. She didn't expect anything else. She started to open the package but Vermilion put his paw down. "Read the card first." he smiled his little sneaky smile he always had when there was a secret going around. Cerulean looked puzzled and slowly opened the card. She then read it aloud.

"We've talked with your owner, and finally came to an agreement. If you wish, you can move into the third bedroom and finally have the brother of your dreams. Do you accept our offer? If yes, then look in the box for our real present. Vermilion and Lavender." Cerulean was totally amazed. "If that wasn't the real present, I'm scared to look in the box." Her eyes were brimming with tears, her smile was huge, and her eyes were dancing with happiness.

"Go on, open it, or do you not accept?" Lavender (Vermilion's owner) prompted.

"Of course I accept!" Cerulean laughed and tore open the box, careful not to rip the card. "That, that's, for, me!"

"Well, I said I could get you a discount on it, and I still think you'd look great like that." Vermilion smiled as Cerulean slowly pulled out a Royal Paint Brush from the box. Lavender gently took it from her new Zafara and rolled it down her back. Instantly, there was a pair, one male and one female, of Royal Zafaras in Lavender's living room.

"Welcome home Cerulean."

"Welcome home."

AN: One, yes I did name them all after colors, I'm bad with names, whether remembering them or making them up. And two, I honestly didn't mean to make it sound like Cinderella, it did that all on it's own!


End file.
